Monday, September 15, 2014

Andrew W.K., Humility, and Prayer

I confess that I didn't expect to read Andrew W.K. on the subject of prayer this weekend. And what's more, I certainly wasn't anticipating one of the best secular meditations on the topic from the erstwhile (and contemporaneously) hard partier. Inspiration comes from the unlikeliest sources, it seems.

In response to a question from a prayer-skeptical reader of his weekly Village Voice advice column (described thusly: Every Wednesday, New York City's own Andrew W.K. takes your life questions and sets you safely down the right path to a solution, a purpose or — no surprise here — a party.), Andrew offered a thoughtful response grounded in accepting unknowns and embracing our own vulnerability.

There are so many powerful messages in the column, but W.K.'s notion of comfort with the impossibility of universal knowledge and foundational importance of acceptance of uncertainty really resonated with me. "To know that you don't know is the definition of a spiritual awakening", he writes.

It's not our intent to get all Jack Handey on the world today, and I, for one, am looking forward to tomorrow's Ghoogles post. But we could all do worse than thinking about Andrew W.K.'s words. Because they really are wisdom.
"Being humble is very hard for many people because it makes them feel unimportant and helpless. To embrace our own smallness is not to say we're dumb or that we don't matter, but to realize how amazing it is that we exist at all in the midst of so much more. To be fully alive, we must realize how much else there is besides ourselves. We must accept how much we don't know — and how much we still have to learn — about ourselves and the whole world. Kneeling down and fully comprehending the incomprehensible is the physical act of displaying our respect for everything that isn't "us.""

6 comments:

Squeaky said...

That Kent State sweatshirt is off the charts ridiculous.

And I read that take on prayer last week, or before, it is a good view for those of us who have soured on structured religion. Actually used part of it in a discussion this weekend. Weird.

Squeaky said...

With the reference to Rage Against the Machine from the last post, this popped back up in my mind.

GMU band practicing 'Killing in the Name' from back in 2011.
http://youtu.be/gqG4oSfQYIY

Marls said...

This guy agrees AWK

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mye1aCskFcM

Dave said...

"to embrace our own smallness." that's got to resonate with rob.

Lumpy said...

Looking for some ff trade advice. Would you trade Calvin Johnson or Brandon Marshall and t Brady for Peyton and Larry Fitzgerald? Ppr league. If so which wr?

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